Album Review: Trash Kit – Confidence

There’s an innate appeal in hearing bands who push boundaries and plough their own furrow. The interest for the listener in being at the edge of the musical map is there are fewer points of reference, no landmarks to keep us on track and provide comfortable orientation. For the bands performing in this space, there […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – Beyond being a two-club city obsessed with football, there are few similarities between Manchester and Madrid. The weather is possibly the most glaring contrast, not that it seemed to bother Deers, who stand outside a sold-out Castle Hotel in the Northern drizzle, laughing and joking with fans 900 miles […]

LIVE: DEERS – 25/11/2014

LIVE: PULLED APART BY HORSES – 21/11/2014

– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – I like Gorilla a lot, but I also like the Salisbury pub around the corner, which is why I miss the first support band Shinies: too busy propping up the bar with a pint of Old Peculiar while I wait for my mate to turn up. I’ve seen Shinies before a […]
– THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER – Composing his reflective songs on piano or guitar, Jackson Browne has been exporting his music from California since the early 1970s. Regarded as classics, albums like Late for the Sky and The Pretender rightly stand alongside works of Laurel Canyon contemporaries like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. In a […]

LIVE: JACKSON BROWNE – 18/11/2014

LIVE: OUGHT – 18/11/2014

– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER –  It’s always a winning moment when you first get into a band to discover that they’re playing near you that week. This is what happened when I first heard the well praised debut long player from Montreal based quartet Ought. I remember thinking ‘this is really cool, I wonder if […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –  Oh my. I’ve been waiting to see Christopher Owens in some form or other for about 5 years. I missed his band Girls when they passed through both London and Manchester at various points, and when they went and broke up and I thought I might never get to […]

LIVE: CHRISTOPHER OWENS – 17/11/2014

LIVE: …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD – 16/11/2014

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Post hardcore, alternative rock, indie rock, progressive rock, math rock, art rock, noise rock: these are the genre labels on Trail Of Dead’s Wikipedia page. It’s fair to say that every rock genre has been levelled at the Texan band across their 15 year, 9 album lifetime, and tonight […]
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER –  Not many rock bands have a motto, and those that do seldom live out their philosophy with the dedication of Pere Ubu.  “Ars longa, spectatores fugaces” translates as “Art is forever, the audience comes and goes”. and tonight it proves to be a perfect articulation of the Pere […]

LIVE: PERE UBU / THE PERE UBU MOON UNIT – 15/11/2014

LIVE: BEN FROST – 14/11/2014

– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – I think Ben Frost has change my basic constitution tonight. The Iceland-dwelling-Aussie delivers a show that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go of you until the very last shaking note. It’s quite the experience, and throughout the evening I’m never really sure whether I’m enjoying it or not, […]
– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – Shamefully, this is only my first gig at Gullivers. The 1st floor room above a pub offers kitsch decor, with heavy gold curtains surrounding the low stage. The walls and ceiling are deep red, with small chandeliers hanging from bosses, giving the room a vampiric quality. Shuffling to the front is essential […]

LIVE: SHE KEEPS BEES – 13/11/2014